(Phoenix, AZ—March 12, 2003)—The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has obtained a second search warrant for the corporate headquarters in California of Industrial Waste Utilization, Inc. Industrial Waste Utilization is affiliated with Innovative Waste Utilization, which was shut down after a bust last week at the company’s facility in Phoenix.

The second warrant is for documents relating to the financial relationship between the two corporations. On February 25, authorities served state and federal warrants at the facility at 2550 S. 15th Avenue in Phoenix. There were simultaneous actions taken in California and Ohio on the same case. Thus far, seven arrests have been made in Ohio and nineteen in Arizona. It is alleged that the facility was selling chemicals that are precursors for making methamphetamine…chemicals that Innovative Waste was supposed to be storing or destroying.

The new warrant will help ascertain the connection between the California and Arizona facilities as it relates to this case.

The day following the raid, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, the agency responsible for licensing the facility, used their regulatory authority to order the closure of the plant. The action suspends the facility’s hazardous waste permit.

The successful raid on the facility was the culmination of months of work by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office; the U.S. Attorney’s Office; the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the Police Departments of Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale, Surprise, Chandler and Avondale; the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS); the Sheriff’s Offices of Maricopa and Pinal Counties; U.S. Customs, the Town of Cashion and the Maricopa County HIDTA Clandestine Laboratory Task Force.

“Government is so much more effective when agencies work cooperatively,” said Attorney General Terry Goddard. “Besides the 15 agencies, we also had valuable on-site assistance and guidance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. There is not only tremendous support from working collaboratively, but an economic efficiency that is particularly important with all of the budget woes.”